Cinderella’s ball: Sophomore Katelyn Serafin up to task, pitching and hitting West Aurora to sectional upset of Yorkville. ‘She’s a gamer.’

This Cinderella story continues, but don’t search for the glass slippers.

Hardly.

Katelyn Serafin is all about the spikes, whether she’s firing away in the circle or swinging away in the batter’s box. And she’s doing both quite well lately.

“She’s a gamer,” West Aurora coach Randy Hayslett said of his sophomore pitcher. “I don’t know how else to say it. She’s surpassing our expectations.

“If I had known this a month ago, she’d have a whole lot more innings than she’s had. Obviously, this is the lineup we’re going with the rest of the way.”

Serafin was good to go Tuesday afternoon, winning a 3-2 duel against ace Madi Reeves and the top-seeded host Foxes in the Class 4A Yorkville Sectional semifinals.

On top of that, Serafin’s two-out double sparked the winning rally for sixth-seeded West Aurora (17-14), which advances to the 4:30 p.m. Friday championship game.

It will be the first appearance in the sectional final since 2017 and only the third since 2001 for the Blackhawks, who will meet the winner of Wednesday’s semifinal between Naperville North and Neuqua Valley.

“I know we were a little bit of an underdog, but the advantage is, we had faced her twice,” Hayslett said of Reeves. “We knew the speed, where she was going.

“She’s still tougher than anything, but we were well-prepared and felt confident coming in.”

Serafin and Reeves matched up May 11. Reeves left with a 1-0 lead after throwing a no-hitter through five innings. Serafin earned a 3-1 win after a late rally.

“It gave me a lot of confidence because I beat them,” she said.

Last week, Serafin followed that up with a three-hitter in an 8-1 victory over Oswego for the regional title.

Serafin (6-3) gave up unearned runs in the second inning Tuesday on Katlyn Schraeder’s sacrifice fly and in the seventh on an outfield error.

But Serafin stranded the tying and winning runs by inducing a pop-up to her for the second out and capped the win with a runner’s interference call going against Yorkville (28-6) on a grounder to Riley Mont at shortstop.

“I kept it together,” Serafin said of the tense seventh inning. “I just took my usual walk to the back of the mound, took a deep breath and thought about the next pitch.”

Reeves (18-4) struck out six batters the first time through West Aurora’s order but only two the second time, finishing with 11.

Senior center fielder Callie Meinel, who had two of the six hits off Reeves, said West Aurora had to adjust.

“We thought the first pitch might be the best pitch we’d get, so you have to go up there being aggressive,” Meinel said. “But you also have to keep your head down.

“It’s about pitch selection, and a lot of people are chasing her riseball because it looks good coming in and then they can’t catch it.”

West Aurora’s offense did all its damage with two outs in the fifth.

Ionicca Rivera had a single and Serafin, who hit a home run and double against Oswego, lined a double down the left field line to score Rivera.

Mia Malczyk’s single up the middle scored Serafin, while Mont followed with an RBI triple on a blast to right-center.

“It was an adrenaline rush,” said Serafin, who did not remember jumping up and down on the base after hitting the double.

“I couldn’t even hear myself screaming in the dugout,” Meinel said.

Serafin ended up with only two strikeouts, but she retired eight batters on infield pop-ups.

“She’s not overpowering, but she hits her spots,” Hayslett said of Serafin. “She moves it in and out and a little bit up and down.”

Yorkville coach Jory Regnier said her team couldn’t come up with the big hit, struggling to make solid contact.

“They came out and had a big inning and that’s all they needed,” Regnier said of West Aurora.